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According to John Perrotto, now that the Pirates have agreed to terms with Francisco Liriano, they have switched their trade preference in return for closer Joel Hanrahan. He mentions they are looking at Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon, as well as Jose Iglesias, the shortstop from the Boston Red Sox.

Would you do it? I think I would, especially if you can sign him longterm at acceptable money.

Yes, I would trade Iglesias + a prospect for Hanrahan in a heartbeat. THAT is the type of offer that I would be perfectly alright with getting Hanrahan for.

I wonder if the Sox would trade Iglesias and Saltalamacchia for Hanrahan.

I wonder if that would be a good idea or not. Not really sure. Sounds on paper like it might work out, but it goes against literally all of my prejudices about dealing youth for age, and starting caliber players for relievers.

that's too bad. I really wanted Ross to come back. Best of luck to him in Arizona I guess. Hopefully they are still in on Swisher. I don't like the outfield as is; Gomes is a great 4th; but I don't like the idea of him as an everyday guy, and right now our fourth is either Kalish or Nava; which was a big part of the problem last season.

-You clear some spots on the 40 man roster
-If he does well, you have a valuable piece to move at the deadline
-He will help mask the lack of real talent in the rotation
-Aceves might go in the other direction, and getting anything of value for him would be nice

Wilson is coming off of another major arm surgery. He also historically walks more batter and strikes out less batters than Hanrahan. Hanrahan is a proven closer that throws cheddar.

I love what Ben's thinking here: starting pitching is at a premium and our rotation is kind of a question mark, so you shorten the games and only rely on your starters going 5-6 innings. Then you can go Uehara, Tazawa, Bailey, Hanrahan. Lights out.

Wilson is coming off of another major arm surgery. He also historically walks more batter and strikes out less batters than Hanrahan. Hanrahan is a proven closer that throws cheddar.

I love what Ben's thinking here: starting pitching is at a premium and our rotation is kind of a question mark, so you shorten the games and only rely on your starters going 5-6 innings. Then you can go Uehara, Tazawa, Bailey, Hanrahan. Lights out.

That being said, I'd still try to bring in Wilson if he's open to it. He is coming off surgery, but he's also pitched in some pretty big games fairly recently. The shorter the games, the better.

I definitely would not be opposed to it, especially on an incentive-laden deal. The bullpen is honestly the most important part of a ball club...if you have a good one, you shorten games, making the starters more effective. You also prevent devastating losses that happened so often last year that have the ability to send teams on skids.

His BB/9 doubled. Might be a fluke, although his control has never really been great (2011 was likely an outlier). I can live with walks though, as long as the velocity is still up and his k rate is constant

EDIT: Just furthered my research, and he allowed the fewest amount of hits per 9 in his entire career. So in a sense, they kind of even out. The BB rate was a little troubling, but he has had inconsistent control his entire career. He isn't a guy that walks the bases full though- he doesn't ever really lose the strike zone like Bard or Aceves.

He did strike out significantly more batters this past year than in 2011 too